专业评估与资质鉴定:中国工程教育的"国际接轨"

本文探讨了中国工程教育“国际接轨”的必要性与可能性，建立与发展中国工程教育评估专业资质鉴定制度，努力推动工程教育专业评估及学历、学位国际间的互认和关于我国工程教育“国际接轨”对策的思考。     

SHORT OVERVIEW OF CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN LITHUANIA IN THE DOMAIN OF QUALITY ASSURANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION AND RECOGNITION OF HIGHER EDUCATION QUALIFICATIONS

This article describes current developments in regard to quality assurance and the recognition of higher education qualifications in Lithuania. With the aim of internationalizing its higher education system, Lithuania acceded to the UNESCO European Diploma Convention in 1994 and to the Council of Europe Convention on the Equivalence of Diplomas Leading to Admission to Universities in 1996. The Ministry of Education created the Lithuanian Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education in January 1995. It has been very active in a number of directions since then. In addition, Lithuania has subjected its science to international evaluation, is a partner in the Baltic Higher Education Coordination Committee, and is participating in two PHARE projects for the development of co‐operation in higher education. The main obstacle to greater co‐operation in regard both to the recognition of academic qualifications and to quality assurance is lack of financial resources.     

Quality Assurance,Accreditation, and Recognition of Qualifications as Regulatory Mechanisms in the European Higher Education Area

This article discusses the intricacies of the role and methods of application of quality assurance, accreditation, and the recognition of academic qualifications in the European Higher Education Area in formation. It analyzes the many-faceted meanings and measurement of quality in higher education, the means of its assurance at institutional and system levels, the links of quality assurance to accreditation and of both to recognition, the latter of which is also analyzed in detail. Quality assurance, accreditation, and recognition are inseparably linked and basic to the Bologna Process.     

FROM REGIONAL CONVENTIONS TO A UNIVERSAL INSTRUMENT: STEPS FORWARD AND PITFALLS

The set of regional conventions on the recognition of studies, diplomas, and degrees is part of a UNESCO effort to promote academic mobility that is almost as old as the organization itself. Normally, the working of the six regional conventions should lead, eventually, to the adoption of a single universal convention on academic recognition; however, in spite of the Recommendation voted at the General Conference of the Organization in 1993, certain countries of the Europe Region, the region receiving the largest number of international students, is not too keen on the idea. This region, nevertheless, is in the process of unifying its own regional conventions through the adoption of a joint Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications Concerning Higher Education in the European Region. Possibly this action will serve as inspiration for a change of attitude toward development of a universal convention.     

THE NEW CONVENTION ‐ PROTOCOL ON INTENTIONS OR WORKING AGREEMENT?

A Joint Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications Concerning Higher Education in the European Region is a necessary evolution that takes into account the increased political and economic integration of Europe, the mobility of academic staff members and students, and the diversification of higher education. The latter tendency, indeed, explains the stress on general principles, particularly on recognition, in the draft Joint Convention, rather than on equivalence and attempts at formulating detailed equivalence procedures. However, along with the stress on recognition must come common agreement as to the guarantee of quality and on procedures for accreditation, on the one hand, and access to information on one another's education programmes and their quality ratings, on the other hand. The Joint Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention will be backed by the excellent European National Information Centres on Academic Recognition and Mobility (ENIC).     

A BRIEF COMMENTARY ON THE U.S. PERSPECTIVE IN REGARD TO THE JOINT COUNCIL OF EUROPE/ UNESCO CONVENTION ON THE RECOGNITION OF QUALIFICATIONS CONCERNING HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE EUROPEAN REGION

Admissions personnel in the United States may question the necessity of American participation in the joint Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications Concerning Higher Education in the European Region. With a long history of international exchanges and given the decentralized system of education of the United States, it can be argued that there is no need for or practicality to U.S. participation. However, participation is viewed as an important agenda for the United States, presenting an opportunity for the sharing of information about American education, for the promotion of an international standard for the recognition of academic credentials, for building global relationships, and for strengthening democratization.     

RECOMMENDATION ON THE RECOGNITION OF STUDIES AND QUALIFICATIONS IN HIGHER EDUCATION∗

The text reproduced below is that of an official Recommendation of the General Conference of UNESCO regarding the worldwide international recognition of higher education studies and qualifications. It suggests steps that the Member States should take to harmonize their policies with regard to mobility in higher education and the mutual recognition of diplomas, degrees, periods of study, and professional qualifications and practice. Evoking the six existing UNESCO Regional Conventions on the recognition of studies and qualifications in higher education, this Recommendation serves as a step toward the eventual creation and ratification of a Universal Convention on the recognition of studies and qualifications in higher education.

     

The historical evolution of engineering degrees: competing stakeholders,contestation over ideas,and coherence across national borders

Recent times have seen significant realignment of engineering degrees globally, most notably in the Washington Accord, a system of mutual recognition of accreditation across much of the Anglophone world and beyond, and the Bologna Process, impacting significantly on the form of engineering degrees in Europe. This article, tracing the historical evolution of engineering degrees, argues that recent events can be seen to be part of an ongoing process of reworking the arrangements for formal engineering education, based on a long-standing contradiction between the different stakeholders that have an interest in curriculum: the state, engineering employers, and academics. This is reflected in a contestation over what was historically termed the ‘shop culture’ of the employers versus the ‘school culture’ of the academy. Furthermore, contemporary developments of mutual accreditation beyond national borders can be seen to have an earlier echo in the relative measure of global coherence that was achieved in the 1870s.     

GENERAL INFORMATION ON HIGHER EDUCATION

The recognition of studies and diplomas is considered a prerequisite for the promotion of the international mobility of students, researchers and other university staff. For this reason Unesco, as well as some other international organizations, attach a great deal of importance in their programmes of activities to this issue. The following article, prepared for “Higher Education in Europe” by the Unesco Secretariat, outlines the main developments with regard to the problem of. the recognition of studies and diplomas in higher education with a special reference to the recently signed Convention on the Recognition of Studies and Diplomas in Higher Education in the Member States of the Europe Region.     

Trans-national recognition and accreditation of engineering educational programmes in Europe: recent developments

The “Bologna Process”, started in 1998/99 with the Sorbonne and Bologna Declarations and now involving 40 countries, aims at establishing by 2010 the “European Higher Education Area”, based on “a system of easily readable and comparable degrees”. The actual implementation of this process and its relevance for the European labour market requires a convergence also of the accreditation procedures of educational programmes, that are still very different from a European country to the other.

After defining the term “accreditation” in the context of the formation of engineers, this paper will discuss the present situation of accreditation of engineering educational programmes in Europe, and present some examples. The contribution of the Thematic Network E4 will be illustrated, and the most recent developments, aiming at a European-wide accreditation system, will be introduced.     

博洛尼亚进程述论

作为欧洲高等教育改革重大举措的博洛尼亚进程,即欧洲高等教育区建设进程,是在高等教育国际化和欧洲经济政治一体化的背景下产生的.它以建构欧洲高等教育区为目标,旨在加强各成员国之间高等教育的可比性和兼容性,增强欧洲高等教育的吸引力和竞争力,提高欧洲高等教育的质量,重塑欧洲高等教育的辉煌.1999年6月,欧洲29国教育部长共同签署<博洛尼亚宣言>,提出建设欧洲高等教育区的具体构想、行动纲领和工作计划.其后,经过历次会议特别是5次部长峰会的评估和改革,逐步形成"学位体系建设、质量保证、学位互认、促进流动、联合学位、终身学习、社会维度和机会均等、提升就业力、全球化背景下的欧洲高等教育"等新的行动目标,并在学制改革、质量保证、学分互换、学位互认等方面取得明显进展.2007年的伦敦会议明确提出,要建设"全球化背景下欧洲高等教育区".从<索邦宣言>欧洲高等教育区的设想到EHEA的形成规模,从当初的4个发起国到现在的46个成员国,博洛尼亚进程走过了10年,其内容不断丰富,目标日益完善,原则广受认同,且一直处于发展、改革和完善之中,致力于协调进程在各国实施进度的差异、保持进程趋同化发展中的多样性、寻求不同民族和国家在区域性合作和竞争中的平衡.     

工程教育与师范教育专业认证体系比较研究

教育部出台的师范专业认证实施办法引起高校的普遍关注,然而师范专业认证在具体实施方法、标准、程序中还存在许多问题。我国工程教育专业认证经过数十年发展,已形成具有中国特色专业认证体系,实现专业人才培养质量的国际实质等效性。文章通过比较分析师范专业与工程教育专业在认证主体、政策、程序、指标与标准方面的异同点,结合师范专业认证的不足,从认证主体机构性质、三级认证体系完善、认证工作基础强化、认证标准多方覆盖等方面,为我国师范专业认证体系发展完善提出建议。     

The Impact of the Bologna Reform on the Productivity of Swiss Universities

The Bologna reform aims to enhance several dimensions of the universities' activities, by favouring mobility and mutual recognition of higher education degrees across Europe, with the objective to create a European Higher Education Area. The radical changes induced by the Bologna Process affect universities' productivity both directly (for example, implementation costs, curriculum streamlining, evaluation intensity) and indirectly (for example, the ability to attract more students and higher levels of competition among institutions). The decentralised organisation of the Swiss university sector provides an ideal setting to test this hypothesis, as the panel data of departments permits the consideration of the unobserved heterogeneity across both universities and scientific fields. The empirical results support the claim that the Bologna reform enhances university productivity. Furthermore, there is no evidence of substantial costs of the system transformation.     

Accreditation of engineering education: review,observations and proposal for global accreditation

In engineering education, the accreditation and assessment of academic programmes is vital in order to maintain the quality and the status of engineering graduates, and hence the technical workforce. Results of a survey of the relevant literature and observations indicate that various accreditation models have been developed regionally, as well as internationally but most of these models seem to be non-uniform, too complex, non-transparent and, moreover, non-precise. This leads to confusion and growing concerns about the mutual recognition and global mobility of the engineering profession. As a result, there is an urgent need for a systematic global model of engineering accreditation that can be used to assess global professional skills and attributes of engineering graduates. The aim of the current paper is to present a brief review of existing accreditation systems implemented in engineering education worldwide as well as to describe the methodology for developing a global accreditation model in engineering education. Various existing accreditation models in engineering education are briefly discussed in this paper and the strengths and weaknesses of these models are outlined and presented. The need for the global accreditation model has been justified and the methodology for the development of the model is outlined with its advantages listed in the paper.     

Social stratification in Higher Education: What it means at the micro‐level of the individual academic scientist

The academic profession is internally divided as never before. This cross‐national comparative analysis of stratification in Higher Education is based on a sample of European academic scientists (N = 8,466) from universities in 11 countries. The analysis identifies three types of stratification: academic performance stratification, academic salary stratification, and international research stratification. This emergent stratification of the global scientific community is predominantly research‐based, and internationalisation in research is at its centre; prestige‐driven, internationally competitive, and central to academic recognition systems, research is the single most stratifying factor in Higher Education at the level of the individual scientist today. These stratification processes pull the various segments of the academic profession in different directions. The study analyses highly productive academics (‘research top performers’), highly paid academics (‘academic top earners’), and highly internationalised academics (‘research internationalists’) and explores the implications for individual scientists.     

Recognition and accreditation of ‘short cycle’ degrees in engineering

Comparing the standards of engineering programmes has never been easy even in one's own country and therefore international recognition is especially difficult with so many different educational systems to contend with. Standards have recently been raised in the UK and the need for two types of professional engineer with an educational base at degree level has been clearly established. The development of 'short cycle' degrees as a supplement to the established 'long cycle' type has been much slower in many European countries, hampered in many cases by the lack of recognition from professional engineering bodies. This paper considers developments in the UK at national level regarding the need, content and accreditation status of 'short cycle' degrees, making some comparison with longer duration degrees. A number of international agreements and a European case study are explored with the argument being made for specifying programmes of study in a manner that is easy to read in order to help facilitate further agreements.     

基于CDIO教育模式的激光加工教学的实践探索

针对目前我国工科毕业生实践能力和创新能力明显不足这一现状,文章通过激光加工工训教学的改革和成效,从一个侧面佐证了实践教学对工程教育和培养学生创新能力的重要性,提出实施CDIO工程教育模式、改革实践教学方式方法是培养学生具有扎实的专业知识、较强的实践能力和创新能力的有效途径,是工程教育专业认证的需要,也是经济社会发展及参与国际交流的需要,更是实现工程学位国际互认和工程师资格国际互认的需要。     

A framework for enhancing regulatory cooperation in external quality assurance in Southern Africa

Cross-border higher education (CBHE) has taken centre stage in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). There has been increased trade in higher education services among member states of the SADC. This has necessitated regional regulatory cooperation in quality assurance and accreditation. SADC has established the Southern African Quality Assurance Network as a regional network of external quality assurance agencies. This paper presents a framework that can be used to enhance regulatory cooperation within the Network on quality assurance in higher education with special focus on CBHE. The paper identifies the main areas of focus as people mobility, institutional and programme mobility, accreditation and registration and recognition of academic credentials. Proposed mechanisms for regulatory cooperation include regional credit accumulation and transfer system, regional qualifications framework, framework for accreditation and registration of foreign providers and framework for recognition of academic credentials.     

促进欧洲各国资格和文凭互认的“欧洲通行证”探究

欧洲通行证是2004年12月15日由欧洲议会、理事会以及欧洲职业培训发展中心共同制定的欧洲资格和能力证书整体框架。它由五个部分组成:欧洲通行简历、欧洲通行语言护照、欧洲通行流动证、欧洲通行补充证书以及欧洲通行补充文凭。欧洲通行证制度的实施有利于提高欧洲各国资格和文凭的互认程度,增强整个区域的教育竞争力。该制度对改革和完善我国的文凭和证书制度不乏借鉴意义。